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Thumbs up or thumbs down: London 2012 mascots

By on May 20, 2010 7:45 pm -
The best and the brightest marketing minds on earth have combined to create mascots for the 2012 Olympic games.  The result is disturbingly creepy and will probably give you nightmares.
Look kids–gender neutral cyclopses!

All I know is that if those things go anywhere near the eventing venue the horses are going to freak the heck out.


“Here horsey horsey horsey”
And yes, of course there is a creepy video.  Warning: do not watch this after taking hallucinogens

Since Eventing Nation is more or less a democracy, let’s take a poll:

 Are London’s cyclopses some of the weirdest Mascots Ever?
Note: I first found the new Olympic mascots and accompanying video at The Carrot, which is my most trusted source for fake FEI news, and I guess now for creepy mascot pictures.  Go eventing.

Funding Eventing Teams in the UK

By on May 20, 2010 12:37 pm -

Eventing Nation’s regular British contributor lec has sent us her next post, this time about how British Eventing funds its riders.  Thanks for writing this lec and thank you for reading.

 

From lec:

One of the things I have mentioned in previous articles is about lottery funding and I thought this week I would explain how the eventing teams in the UK are funded.  

BE has a profit of £100,404 for the year. 

This means that British Eventing is basically self funding with a small operating profit. 

The yearly costs for teams come in at £210,000 for British Eventing. This is for the Ponies, juniors, young riders and senior teams. This is a drop in the ocean to the real costs so where does all the extra money come from to pay for teams, training and rider support? 

British Equestrian Federation and Lottery Funding 

The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) is the national governing body for horse sports in the UK. The BEF is affiliated to the FEI. There are 16 membership bodies of the BEF of which British Eventing is one. One of the main roles that BEF has is distributing government funding to equestrian sports. Funding comes from UK Sport and Sport England (more about these later!) develops the best riders, with the aim of winning medals for Great Britain and to encourage complete beginners to get involved. 

Yes you heard it right. Eventing in the UK is heavily subsidised by the government. The money comes from the National Lottery. I understand that in the US you have state lotteries. In the UK we have one National Lottery. 28p in every £1 spent on the lottery goes into sport and good causes. Since the lottery started it has donated £20 billion to good causes and sport. The two organisations which hand out these funds are Sport England and UK Sport. UK Sport deals with elite sport. This Sport England develops grassroots sport. BE80T is a class that British Eventing was given additional money by Sport England. It encouraged more participation by beginners into the sport of eventing and so was eligible for this funding.  

The reason all this funding came about was the dismal failure in all the Olympic sports at Atlanta in 1996. We won one gold medal and that was in rowing. In order to try and overcome this problem the UK government pledged to put millions of pounds into sport which had been for years woefully under funded.  

Now we have covered the basics it’s onto the more interesting detail! That of what UK Sport, funds. This is where non UK riders will get jealous!  
 

World Class Development  

World Class Development is in place to develop and maximise potential. This is individual funding to riders and gets them access to top trainers, coaching and support. In order to be a member you must have excellent results both past and present. Anyone is eligible between the ages of 16 -30 years old. There are two written application stages and this is followed by selection trials. This is only eligible for the Olympic disciplines. 
 

Criteria:

Under 18 year olds:  

  • Top 10 placing in a CCI *
  • Top 5 placing at the JRN Championships
  • Top 5 placing in the Pony Club Championships
  • Top 15 placing individually at the Junior European Championships
  • Counting score of a medal winning GBR Junior European Team
  • Top 10 placing individually at the Pony European Championships or counting score of a GBR medal winning Pony European Team (providing the rider has moved on to horses).

 

18 – 21 year olds:  

  • Clear round cross country with qualifying result (according to BE Rule Book) at a CCI***/CIC***
  • Top 15 placing in a CCI**
  • Top 3 placing at the Pony Club Championships
  • Counting score of a medal winning GBR Junior European Team
  • Counting score of a medal winning GBR Young Rider European Team
  • Top 15 individual placing at the Young Rider European Championships.

 

21 – 25 year olds:  

  • Completed a CCI**** with qualifying results (according to BE Rule Book)
  • Top 20 placing in CCI***
  • Top 10 placing in the Under 25 Championship at Bramham
  • Top 5 placing in CIC***
  • Top 5 individual placing at the Young Rider European Championships
  • Counting score in a medal winning Young Rider European Team
  • Selected for Senior Team.

 

26 + years old:  

  • Top 20 placing in a CCI****
  • Top 10 placing in a CCI***
  • Top 5 placing in a CIC***.

 

As you can see the criteria to be eligible are tough! This funding is for the elite few who are at the top of their respective levels. The final selection is a riding one where the riders are put through their paces by the top trainers in the UK and judged for potential and ambition. No rider automatically stays on this scheme. Riders are reviewed every six months and remain selected for two years before having to reapply. Currently there are 15 riders on this programme.  

There is a separate scheme (World Class Performance) for those who are at the very top. These riders are on the British team and proven in their track record. From the scheme they get:

Performance director/managers advice and support, Programme administration, coaches and coach development, technical support (performance analysis), sports science and medicine consultants, including physiotherapy & sports psychology. Squad training, rider allowance for training and competition, key competition support (vets/coaches in attendance at key competitions), research & development, veterinary support, farriery support, medical support for riders, performance enhancing equipment, team clothing and championship costs & logistics management. 


As you can see that is a lot of help which is all funded by UK Sport. Currently the riders on this scheme are Tina Cook, Piggy French, William Fox Pitt, Lucy Weigersma, Nicola Wilson, Mary King, Polly Stockton, Ruth Edge and Oliver Townend.  

The reason you see the above riders and no others from the UK at Rolex is because the flights get paid for under this scheme. It’s this kind of support that has seen the UK consistently get medals at all the major championships. I know a lot of riders really rely on the money from this funding as it can make things a lot easier. For some riders its in the region of £20,000 a year.  

There is also an Equine Performance Scheme which is very similar which ear marks horses from their results. The rider is then given specialist training and support to help maximise the horse’s potential. It is also an incentive scheme to owners to keep their horse and not push it too hard, too quickly. 

In order to keep the funding the teams have to perform. Luckily the UK eventing team has consistently performed above and beyond the expectations. In Beijing the medal target was two of any colour which luckily eventing bought back. If eventing had not succeeded then the results would have been disastrous for eventing, dressage and show jumping as equestrian is all lumped together in terms of funding. With the results of Beijing, equestrian sport received £13.6 million in allocation for 2009 -2013. This is an increase of £2 million.  

In the last month the medal expectations have been published for the UK at the 2012 Olympics. Equestrian sport needs to get three medals of any colour across the three Olympic disciplines of dressage, eventing and show jumping. Hopefully this will be achieved or else the UK will have serious funding issues. Losing eventing from the Olympics would be a disaster for UK eventing as the majority of its funding would dry up especially for teams.  

Search committee formed to find CMP’s replacement

By on May 19, 2010 6:19 pm -
The USEF has issued a press release forming a search committee to find Captain Mark Phillips’ replacement when the current US coach retires after the 2012 Olympics. 

The committee: 

Chairman: Eric Straus, New Canaan, CT 
Robert Costello, Southern Pines, NC
Kevin Freeman, Portland, OR 
Mike Huber, Bartonville TX
George Morris, Wellington, FL
Katie Prudent, Middleburg, VA 

Amy Tryon, Duvall, WA


According to the PR, the committee’s initial responsibility will be to develop a job description and timeline which will then be posted. Interested individuals will then be invited to apply.  So get your resume’s ready folks.


There are a lot of questions to be answered before the search even starts:

–Does the US want a coach who will give lessons to the riders himself/herself, or more of a manager who coordinates the efforts of several discipline specific coaches and helps the riders decide who to work with?

–Do we want a foreign or US coach?

–Do we want a coach who will be more likely to invest in young talent or do everything to win immediately?

I don’t have a lot of time right now to delve into the issue (see below), but this is the first step in a long and exciting process that will shape the future of US (and perhaps Canadian) eventing for many years to come.  Go eventing.

Nothing to do with horses

By on May 19, 2010 5:33 pm -
I have been writing the past few days from Eventing Nation’s mobile vacation command center in Topsail Island.  Each year, students graduating from the University of Virginia spend the week after finals and before graduation vacationing at a beach.  Surprisingly, this is known as “Beach Week.”  It’s a long story, but I graduated from UVa a year or so before most of my friends, but we are celebrating their Beach Week in Topsail, NC this week.
topsailbeach.jpg
a few of the guys playing paddle ball, perhaps the world’s most pointless sport
I was feeling a little guilty today so I spent some time driving around attempting to locate a horse or anything related to horses, but this was the closest thing I could find.  

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what exactly do you do with a rented horse?  perhaps I should call the number
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It is called Topsail Island after all, so you need a bridge
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A picture as I am writing this post from the porch of our beach house.  You can see the ocean in the background.  If you look closely at the house on the right, you can see it is built on stilts to protect it from hurricane storm surges.  All of the houses on Topsail Island are elevated above sea level by about 10 feet for this reason.   
Eventing is such a tough and often heartbreaking sport that it’s important to have a life away from horses.  In some sense, I owe what remains of my sanity to my many awesome non-eventing friends.  Spending time with away from the horses helps me keep life in perspective and, after a few days away from the barn, reminds me how much I love my horses.  As always, I have been doing a lot of thinking this week about how to keep growing and improving Eventing Nation.  Now more than ever, thanks to everyone, especially our writers, for being a part of this great experiment known as Eventing Nation.  Go eventing.

Your take: alternative therapies

By on May 18, 2010 12:16 pm -
As all of my vets know, I’m a born skeptic.  Perhaps it’s just my cognitive science background, but I tend to think a lot of alternative therapies have more to do with making us feel better than our horses feel better.  Of course, I end up spending the money on the chiropractor and magnetic blanket anyhow in the hope that they will help, but I do it with a grain of skepticism.

TheHorse.com recently asked its readers “what alternative therapeutic options have you used on your horse?”  Link: the story
630 readers responded as follows:

  • Chiropractic work 73.19% (464)
  • Massage therapy 61.04% (387)
  • Acupuncture 41.32% (262)
  • Neutraceuticals 35.49% (225)
  • Magnetic therapy 25.87% (164)
  • Other therapies 24.29% (154)

What is your take on alternative therapies? Which ones have workes well for your horse and which ones seemed like a waste of money?

Thoughts on the short list

By on May 17, 2010 12:20 pm -
On Friday, the USEF released  partial short list for the WEGs, narrowing the list of potential horses to 11 names along with several that might be named after Luhmuhlen.

Buck Davidson and BallyNoe Castle RM (11th Burghley 09, 15th Rolex 09)
Buck Davidson and My Boy Bobby (3rd Rolex 09)
Phillip Dutton and The Foreman (2nd Rolex 05, 2nd Burghley 05, 6th Rolex 10)
Phillip Dutton and TruLuck (4th Burghley 09, 9th Rolex 07)
Phillip Dutton and Woodburn (12th Rolex 09, 9th Rolex 08, 2nd Rolex 10)
Will Faudree and Pawlow (15th Rolex 10)
Becky Holder and Courageous Comet (since ’07 – 2nd Rolex 08, 42nd Olympics 08, R Burghley 09, 3rd Rolex 10)
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos (9th Rolex 08, 4th Rolex 10)
Boyd Martin and Remington XXV (12th Rolex 10)
Karen O’Connor and Mandiba (E Burghley, 44th Olympics, 7th Rolex 10)
Amy Tryon and Leyland (13th Rolex 09, 14th Burghley 09)

(1) If you have been reading Eventing Nation, there were no surprises with short list.  After Rolex, I wrote that 13 horses had separated from the pack: Woodburn, The Foreman, TruLuck, Neville, Remington, Comet, Mandiba, Pawlow, Leyland, Bobby, Ballynoecastle, Twizzel, and Connaught.  11 of those horses made the short list, and Twizzel will be on the list with a good performance at Luhmuhlen.  Phillip’s blog explained that Connaught was scratched from Jersey because he wasn’t quite right.
(2) The short list is very short.  There are 11 horses but just 7 riders are on the list and the US will send 6 riders to the WEGs (4 team, 2 individual).  This means that we already have a pretty clear picture of what the team will look like.  It also means that the second and even third most impressive pair at Luhmuhlen has a legitimate shot to go to the WEGs, depending on how things shake out.
(3) The most important thing moving forward for short listed pairs is keeping the horse healthy.  There’s a mentality among riders that the last sound horses standing are going to Kentucky, and that’s always the reality before major international competitions.  From this point forward, more than anything, soundness will pick the team that represents the USA at the World Equestrian Games.
(4) Let’s just get this out in the open–Buck and Phillip are virtual locks to make the team.  If we could send riders on multiple horses, we’d probably send Buck and Phillip on all 5 of their horses on the list.  
(5) The team suggested how much they want Boyd by short listing Remington as well as Neville.
(6) If you put a gun to my head right now and forced me to pick six names, I’d go with BallyNoe Castle, Woodburn, Neville, Mandiba, Leyland, and Twizzel.  We will have much more with the list later this week.  Go eventing.

How did your event go this weekend?

By on May 17, 2010 6:33 am -

Welcome to the second edition of the weekly post where we ask readers to share about their weekend.  Last week we got some great responses from Ohio to Washington to a starter horse trials in Maryland.  

Please tell us how your eventing went this weekend–bonus points for ridiculousness

Jessica Phoenix and Exponential win Chattahoochee advanced

By on May 16, 2010 7:25 pm -
1. Jessica Phoenix and Exponential +0 33.0
2. Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master +1 41.8
3. Michael Pollard and Wonderful Will +12 47.8
4. Will Coleman and Twizzel +9 50.3
(1) Jessica Phoenix returned to big time eventing with a bang this weekend at Chattahoochee.  I saw Jessica training in Ocala during January and at that time Jessica was about 7 months pregnant.  At The Fork, we received the great news that Jessica had a baby boy, and now just 6 weeks later Jessica has won an advanced event.  Jessica is an extremely nice person and a great rider for Canada.  What an incredible achievement to return to eventing so quickly, and we wish Jessica the best of luck with her quest to compete in Kentucky this fall.  Jessica was the only advanced competitor to finish on her dressage score.
(2) Fellow Canadian Rebecca Howard placed second in the advanced on Riddle Master.  As we know, Rebecca was returning from her fall at Pine Top earlier this spring which left her with a broken collar bone, among other injuries.  
(3) Potential Luhmuhlen entrants Michael Pollard on Wonderful Will and Will Coleman on Twizzel both had multiple rails in the show jumping but held on to their top 4 positions.  It’s an incredible achievement for Will to ride around an advanced event 6 weeks after shattering his collar bone, but he did what was necessary to keep his WEG hopes alive and well.
(4) Arden Wildasin and Jos Ambition moved up from 3rd after the XC to win the CIC* with one rail in the show jumping.  Anisa Tracy, one of Jan’s students, won the CIC2* as one of only 2 two-star competitors to finish on their dressage scores.

Triple Crown will have to wait another year

By on May 15, 2010 6:33 pm -
Lookin At Lucky and jockey Martin Garcia won the Preakness for trainer Bob Baffert.  First Dud finished second, Jackson Bend third.  Super Saver wasn’t so lucky.  Props to commenter The859 for picking Lookin At Lucky to win–hope you made some money The859.  Sadly for racing, this won’t happen at the Belmont in 2010.
Link: NYT Preakness Recap

Did you watch Rolex on NBC?  I was stuck at the barn, but let us know what you thought about NBC’s coverage.  I heard that the announcers got a little too excited about Oliver’s fall.

Comeback Saturday at Chattahoochee

By on May 15, 2010 1:10 pm -

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Snapshot 2010-05-15 13-15-29.jpeg
The story so far in Georgia are the comeback performances.  Canadian team hopeful Jessica Phoenix is returning from having a baby right before The Fork.  They tried to time the birth to give Jessica a shot to make the Canadian WEG squad, and so far so good for her comeback plans.  Rebecca Howard is returning from her big fall at Pine Top earlier this spring.  David kept Rebecca’s horses in work and it seems that Rebecca has been able to pick up where she left off.  Will Coleman broke his collar bone just 6 weeks ago at the Fork, but jumped around the advanced clear on two horses and sits in 4th on Twizzel.  We could also consider the 3rd placed advanced pair, Michael Pollard and Wonderful Will a comeback story after Michael’s fall at Rolex.
It’s also worth noting that Canada has two riders in the top 4 of the advanced.  
7 out of 15 starters in the advanced had issues and overnight leader Gina Fiore and Feral Errol were eliminated.  A couple of the upper level riders made some mental mistakes and missed a fence or jumped the wrong one.  Visionaire reports that the high humidity combined with temperatures in the mid 80’s is making for some tired horses around the course.
No we will not be live blogging NBC’s Rolex replay–stop sending me email requests.  I am kidding of course, but it is cool that we have gotten requests for a live blog of the Rolex replay!

Don’t forget

By on May 15, 2010 4:49 am -

NBC will air its Rolex broadcast today from 3:00-4:30pm EST, immediately preceding coverage of the Preakness.  I’m not sure who I like to win the Preakness, but I’m betting on Cool Mountain to win in Kentucky because that’s a nice name for a horse.  Of course the real race at Pimlico is in the infield.

Visionaire’s five-star Friday evening notes

By on May 14, 2010 8:07 pm -
Visionaire is riding at Chattahoochee Hills this weekend and passed along a few photos from the competition to share with Eventing Nation.  The XC schedule was reworked because of high temperatures predicted for Saturday–the advanced now starts at 10am and the training was moved to the afternoon.
It’s amazing what camera phones can do these days:
advancedcrosscountrywater.jpg
Guess what the sign says
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A new collapsable table on the advanced course
noviceanglechattahoochee.jpg
Holy mini Rolex Batman! That’s novice
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Those novice horses will be all dialed in for the advanced angles in a few years
advanceddropxc.jpg
Advanced drop
Visionaire also asked me to remind everyone that the Rolex is on NBC right before at 3:00pm ET Saturday, before the Preakness.  Apparently it’s going to be a mad dash at the Eventing Nation mobile command center tomorrow afternoon to get back to the hotel in time to watch the Rolex coverage.
In the Chattahoochee dressage, Gina Fiore and Feral Errol scored a 28.3 and lead Will Coleman and Twizzel by just over a point.  Will also has Nevada bay tied for 3rd with a 32.0.  Becky Holder and Call Me Ollie are winning the CIC2* with a 44.7.  Good luck to all the Chattahoochee competitors on XC tomorrow.

WEG Short List

By on May 14, 2010 6:30 pm -


The USEF has released a partial short list for WEG selection with 11 pairs listed.  Additional horse/rider combinations may be named to the Short List after the final selection trial held at Luhmuhlen CCI4* June 17-20, 2010.

The short list is designed to guide summer training with the US coaches and help the riders plan their autumn.  
Buck Davidson and BallyNoe Castle RM
Buck Davidson and My Boy Bobby
Phillip Dutton and The Foreman
Phillip Dutton and TruLuck
Phillip Dutton and Woodburn
Will Faudree and Pawlow
Becky Holder and Courageous Comet
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos
Boyd Martin and Remington XXV
Karen O’Connor and Mandiba
Amy Tryon and Leyland

What’s hot and what’s not in the UK

By on May 14, 2010 12:31 pm -

lec, a regular EN contributor and UK resident has kindly sent in some thoughts on eventing trends in the UK.  I had no idea what a couple of these things were so I included some pictures and links.

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From lec: A frivolous light-hearted look at the eventing fashions! 

Quantum Saddles – If you were watched Badminton and looked at James Robinson’s saddle and thought it looked a little odd that is because it’s a Quantum a saddle designed for the horse and rider. Top technology and the saddle looked at in a new modern way. Link: www.quantumsaddle.com

Neck straps – If it’s good enough for WFP at 4* it’s good enough for us!

Kan Body Protectors – Using motor bike technology they use special moulded foam which makes it more comfortable for the rider. The foam is a special smart foam which hardens on impact and unlike other body protectors which only have a shelf life of 5 years this foam does not deteriorate or need replacing after a fall. Link: www.kanteq.com

Brown Riding Boots – These are making a come back at Prelim and below. They look super smart with tweed and are the discerning riders choice of boot on a young or novice horse.

TBs – Showing that you do not need some fancy foreign blood when it comes to clearing up the top events! Inonothing, Miners Frolic and Cool Mountain show that top TB blood is still the way forwards in eventing. 

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Open Fronted boots – Seen more and more on the cross country. Cheap air cooling or encouraging the horse to respect fences more I am not sure but many pros seem to be using them more on the cross country at all levels.

Websites – It seems that every eventer even if you are falling off at the first fence of a beginner novice is no-one without a website. A good way to attract sponsorship, gain more rides or just show off to your friends a website or blog is a must have in these modern times. 

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Devoucoux  5 Point Breastplates – Last years must have item to have has slipped down the rankings. So many copies around and some riders have discovered that actually one size does not fit all. The final death knell was sounded as they are now everywhere at pony club and unaffiliated. Pretentious Moi?

French Blinkers– Last years must have item for eventers is sadly relegated due to being banned by the FEI. The FEI has declared that anything which effects the horse’s vision cannot be used but *cough* its perfectly fine to wear a sheepskin noseband because of course that does not effect a horses vision! Good old FEI clear as mud in its decisions.

Mandatory reading: events this weekend

By on May 14, 2010 5:35 am -
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Eventing Nation has the coolest fans ever.  This screenshot was submitted by clb, and she references my This Doesn’t Sound Like Golfing At All post.
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Meanwhile, the spring is turning to summer across Eventing Nation despite the fact that I rode in a jacket today here in central Virginia.  The six US events this weekend include some big event names running their spring horse trials.
Greater Dayton (OH): Homepage, Times/Live Scores, Weather

Notes: Greater Dayton gets to be at the top of the list because Ohio eventing fans were loud and proud on last week’s ‘events this weekend’ post.  Greater Dayton is held at the same farm as Gemwood, which is the only event in Ohio I have ever attended.  It was a long time ago, but I remember a flat piece of property and a nice event.

Chattahoochee Hills (GA): Homepage, Schedule, Live Scores, Ride Times, Weather

Chattahoochee doesn’t have a 5-star this weekend, but they do have the Area III championships, a CIC1*, CIC2* and an advanced horse trials.  Will Coleman returns from his collar bone injury, riding in the advanced on both Nevada Bay and Twizzel, who is aiming for Luhmuhlen.  Jessica Pheonix returns from maternity leave and has two of Canada’s best horses (Exploring and Exponential) entered in the advanced. Mercifully, I will be at home this weekend, but Visionaire and Leslie are both planning to be at Chattahoochee.  


Fair Hill (MD): Website, Live Scores, Ride Times, Weather

Buck Davidson rides Cruise Lion and Karen rides the latest major addition to the O’Connor arsenal, Quintus 54.  Both horses are in the OI.

Mill Creek PC HT (MO): Homepage, Times/Live Scores

Galway Downs (CA): Homepage, Times/Scores

2010 Rolex competitors Andrea Baxter and Estrella are entered in the OI.

Hitching Post Farm HT (VT): Homepage, Times/Scores

Good luck to all the competitors this weekend–be safe, have fun, and go eventing.

Riding a fine line

By on May 12, 2010 5:38 pm -
In the the latest developments of the FEI’s attempt to police hyperflexion, the FEI has sent out a press release trying to clarify acceptable neck positions in the warmup that are definied in the new dressage stewards manual.  Three neck positions that are permitted:
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How would we interpret the acceptable LDR position diagram differently if the horse has its ears pinned and the rider was leaning back? 

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of what is not permitted.  Instead, the press release explains:

“Any head and neck position obtained through the use of aggressive force is not acceptable. Movements which involve having the horse’s head and neck carriage in a sustained or fixed position should only be performed for periods not exceeding approximately 10 minutes without change.  Deliberate extreme flexions of the neck involving either high, low or lateral head carriages, should only be performed for very short periods.”


The stewards manual explains that the steward will intervene should he observe:

 â—￾ Neck stretching achieved through forced, or aggressive riding 
 â—￾ The use of extreme flexion
 â—￾ A rider deliberately maintaining a sustained fixed head and neck carriage longer than approximately 10 min
 â—￾ In cases when the horse is in a state of general stress and/or fatigue
Admittedly, I don’t have any experience as a steward, but I have concerns about the potential ambiguity of the rules.  For example, the press release states that “extreme flexions” should only be performed for “very short periods” but the manual instructs stewards to intervene at the use of any extreme flexion.  We’re not talking about measuring dressage whips and spurs–the rules are based on how “aggressive” and “deliberate” a rider is being and the “stress” level of a horse.  How soon will it be before there’s a major controversy involving a disqualification based on such subjectivity?
We can all see the difference between the “low, deep, and round” diagram above and the absurd Kittel video (below), but remember that the FEI concluded there was “no reliable evidence that the warm-up techniques used by Mr Kittel were excessive.”  Under these circumstances I think we need some sort of diagram or video to tell us what exactly would be considered excessive.
Patrik Kittel and the infamous ‘blue tongue’ video. 

More friends make us happy

By on May 12, 2010 11:40 am -

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May is indeed reader appreciation month here on Eventing Nation, and I want to say thanks to all of our incredible readers.  Eventing Nation has the most intelligent, informed, involved, and insider audience anywhere online—if you can find me a snowboarding website that Shaun White and his biggest fan both have as their homepage, let me know.
As an example of how cool our readers are, McKenna, a regular EN commenter, uploaded the above photo onto our new Facebook fanpage.  The night I got home from Jersey, I was feeling exhausted and completely burt out, but I logged onto our fanpage, saw that photo, and it was the most amazing feeling in the world.   I am so proud that Eventing Nation’s readers are our contributors, that our commenters are our writers, and that our heroes are also our readers.  
Click 6 buttons–If you don’t feel like spending hours writing an article for EN or making EN posters in photoshop, there is a fast and simple way you can contribute to Eventing Nation and help us grow.

(1) Facebook fan: click *here, and then click ‘like’ at the top of our fanpage–we created a new fanpage a couple of weeks ago, which is different from the EN Facebook ‘friend’ page that already has 1050 friends.

(2) Facebook friend: click *here and then click ‘add as friend’–if you haven’t already, it will never be easier than right now.  You can be extra cool by suggesting your friends become our fans or our friends.

(3) Twitter: go to *www.twitter.com/eventingnation and then click ‘follow’–Eventing Nation is new to Twitter, but like anything we do, we are learning fast and you don’t want to miss the ride.

If every one of our readers today takes one minute total to click those buttons, Eventing Nation’s social network will double today.  Let’s Go Eventing Nation!!

NWEC event report and much more from Chelan

By on May 12, 2010 12:16 am -

Well folks, Chelan Kozak has sent me another email, and against my better judgement with pleasure I’m going to post it.  Somebody go find JER.  But I have learned!  This week I made a couple of quick edits to make it safe reading for all ages.  And whatever you do, don’t go to Chelan’s blog today.

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From Chelan:
Okay so STILL laughing my ass off at the ‘are you smarter than a Pony clubber’? I’m very likely not… But even as a pony clubber I was doing things I shouldn’t and somehow getting away with it because I was entertaining. Case in point- there were only a few of us going preliminary at Rally one year. Somebody dared somebody to hop on the horses we were hand grazing. Bareback of course, halter and lead rope, no helmets and this was a stone age before anyone ever thought of an arm band. [Decked our in two inflatable vests each, wearing helmets, knee pads, and with a medivac chopper standing by]  One thing led to another and things got entirely out of hand. My buddy and I start to play tag on horseback with said un-pony club attire, while jumping in and out of the sand competition ring. Turns out the Rally head honchos were in the club house in full view (if they were smart they were drinking- imagine being in charge of a zillion pony clubbers!) Needless to say, the crap hit the fan.   Seriously, only a good cowboy type kid can stay on over a 3’3″- 3’6″ hanging rail while bareback in the semi-darkness, while trying desperately to knock your friend off his horse. [Did I mention that we all wore inflatable vests?]  Not to mention the difficulty steering with a halter and lead rope just on one side!!  [And we never used Rollkur]  Remarkably, we were not eliminated. Not surprisingly, I never got my A rating in Pony Club, B2 was as far as I got. 
The REAL reason I’m writing is to report on NWEC in Washington. I should pre-empt the submission by saying that I was not actually there, so this is all second hand. When I am standing right at the scene, my stories have a way of growing and getting embellished for comic effect. Imagine how things go with second hand information. 
So, I had only one student going down there which meant that she was ‘farmed out’ for coaching. I was just back from Rolex and literally was still doing laundry. So, down she goes… she lays out a lovely test, well placed after and then sets of XC ready to rock and roll that INT course. I need to provide a little back ground about NWEC. It is a large piece of property on several different levels- imagine a series of ‘steps’ with flat areas in between. There are 3 different ‘levels’. This provides fantastic terrain changes for the XC. Not the least of which is this man-from-snowy-river type hill, at like fence four or five. When I say hill, I actually mean long suicide drop off. Welcome to eventing on the west coast! The question is well done as the jumps at the top are very inconsequential, as the riders are too busy peeing themselves about this killer hill. I have been to NWEC countless times and not once seen a bad wreck there. Horses are not stupid, they don’t just fall over on a steep hill, so the question is just great.
Anyhow, my rider tackles the hill with tremendous gusto, loses a stirrup en route to the bottom, and falls off when turning to the next fence at the bottom. Why? Because her girth is loose and so her saddle slips over to the side… I’m not entirely sure but I’m guessing SHE didn’t make her A rating either! This client is a lovely woman in her 40’s who has evented for years and knows better. Actually, anyone over the age of 8 knows better, and in fact an 8 year old pony clubber is far more likely to have a tight girth that the rest of us silly adults! My student was just fine and in typical go get ’em eventer style is already planning her next outing. This sport is cruel and we are all insane… 
Now, before you think I’m just plain mean by poking fun at my poor rider who was obviously gutted at the rubber meeting the road due to a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ (thank YOU Janet Jackson for that pearl of a phrase) think again. This second hand event report might just lead EN to another silly and likely amusing call for submissions. Namely- what is the silliest/weirdest/most ridiculous/most frustrating way you have been Eliminated?? Here’s (one of) mine- it’s 1996 and I had sponsorship to take my 4 star horse Soweto to Badminton. I also had another ADV horse at the time and thought it prudent to do Rolex one w/e with that horse and Badminton the next w/e with the other. This challenge despite the fact that my last name is not O’Connor, Davidson, or Dutton… 
So- one can imagine the planning, choreographing and organizing to get this done. I used a friend’s jump saddle for Rolex, and shipped my gear over ahead of time with my Badminton horse. I had the borrowed saddle fitted to my Rolex horse, rode in it several times, and felt confident that we were completely prepared tack wise. Enter the dreaded weight pad… I never actually tried this borrowed saddle with my weight pad, and of course, it slipped and pressed on his withers during the competition. Steeplechase was a nightmare, the poor guy was very unhappy. We rigged it up as best we could in the vet box, and I set off XC, only to retire after fence 5 or so. The quick fix did me no good, and my poor horse was trying his heart out but getting stabbed in the withers every time he jumped. Did I mention this was a qualifying competition for the Olympics that year AND that I had a god dressage score? My girth was really tight, though… Over to the dear readers of EN, there have to be zillions of great ‘I am an eventer and I did something dumb’ stories out there. As they say- try to finish with a number not a letter, as E is NOT for excellence.
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Over the years, riding has changed for the better.  Chelan always wears her helmet when she rides and so should you–always wear your helmet when you Go Eventing.

Your take: making eventing fans

By on May 11, 2010 12:39 pm -
-For the next 5 minutes, lets pretend we want to.
After getting home from Jersey, one vet emailed me and suggested that we ask Eventing Nation about how to improve public interest in eventing.  I would guess that there were no more than 200 non-competing spectators at Jersey, and this is a big number for all but a few events across the US.  Think of how much it would help ease the budget of the events if we could get one or two thousand locals out, charge them $5 for parking and 3$ for a hamburger.  So, I pose the question:

What is the best way to improve public interest in eventing?
Some will surely say that we don’t want to improve public interest or that it’s impossible, and both of those arguments have merit.  But, even if you do make such a point, please feel free to add “but if I had to propose a solution, I would suggest…”
Go eventing.

It’s official

By on May 10, 2010 7:13 pm -

We have known this for a while, but the USEF just put out a press release that the mandatory outing will be held in conjunction with the AEC’s at Chattahoochee, September 9-12.

“All Short Listed horse/rider combinations must enter in the Advanced division at AEC and demonstrate their continued preparation, soundess and ability to compete.”

Chattahoochee is hosting an advanced horse trials this weekend.  Go eventing.

Ringwood Magister is excited for Monday afternoon Jersey notes

By on May 10, 2010 12:05 pm -
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(1) With only two rider falls and no major injuries, the Jersey courses all rode safely.  To learn from this success, the question to ask is why was this weekend so safe?  Here are a few possibilities.


Good course design: we are so quick to blame the course designers when things go wrong that it seems only fair that they get the credit when things go right.  The John WIlliams course worked this weekend.

Good riding: one interesting point that John Williams made is that riders were quick to pull up at Jersey and retired after one or two stops.  The idea is that the horses who were having bad rounds got off the course before they could have an accident.  There was one elimination and seven retires on the XC.  Some of this trend to retire earlier comes from the growing tendency to just go to another three-day in the same season if the first one goes poorly.

Good horses: in my opinion, there is at least one moment during every advanced ride where the horse can decide to help its rider out or not.  The horses were looking out for their riders this weekend.

Luck: sometimes the tense moments work out, sometimes they don’t–this weekend they did.

(2) Doug Payne used a helmet cam on the CCI2* course aboard Happy Valley:

(3) CCI2* rider Courtney Sendak wore a yellow armband during XC in memory of fallen University of Virginiaa women’s lacrosse player Yeardley Love, who was brutally murdered last week.  Yeardley attended Courtney’s highschool, and she was my classmate at UVa.  
(4) If the Jersey entry numbers don’t start improving, some major changes will have to be made.
(5) Ringwood Magister is a stunning horse.  ‘Finian’ is an incredibly dark grey with a bright white tail, and he’s very well built.  I had seen the horse several times before, but I stood right next to him at the jog and it was quite impressive.
(6) I was making fun of New Jersey residents for being rude earlier in the week, but I only met one rude person all weekend.  Someone parked their SUV right in front of where I was watching the show jumping from my truck while my computer charged.  There were many other possible parking spots, but, needless to say, my polite explanation of what I was trying to do was not received well.  But then another person from New Jersey walked up to my truck and apologized for how rude the other person was!  Props to New Jersey.  I timed it so I didn’t have to refuel my truck in New Jersey to avoid the whole tipping the gas station attendant thing.
(7) I don’t remember if I have said it this week, but thank you to all the volunteers and organizers at Jersey and across all of Eventing Nation this weekend.  We can’t say it enough: eventing would not exist without your help.
Go eventing.

How did your event go this weekend?

By on May 10, 2010 12:10 am -

WIth back-to-back-to-back weekends of Rolex, Badminton, and Jersey, we have had a chance to experience some of the biggest events of the year.  Yet, much of Eventing Nation was competing this weekend at other events across the US and the world.  One again, we turn Eventing Nation over to our readers, this time to give us your event reports.
Please tell us how your event went this weekend–extra credit for funny stories

Jersey Fresh: Results

NWEC Mothers Day Classic (WA): Results
King Oak Farm HT (MA): Homepage
Plantation Field HT (PA): Results
Winona HT (OH): Homepage
Jubilee Spring HT (AR): Homepage

Sydney World Cup (AUS): Results

CCI3*-Tiana Coudray wins big

By on May 9, 2010 2:00 pm -
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CCI3* Results
1. Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister +4 45.6
2. Phillip Dutton and Inmidair +0 58.0
3. Colin Davidson and Draco +8 64.2
4. Sharon White and Rafferty’s Rules +8 65.8
5. Kate Brown and Mojito +4 70.6
Link: Final Jersey Fresh Scores

Photos from the Chronicle:  Sunday Jog, Show Jumping, and… Polocrosse ?!

Quick recap: 
(1) Tiana Coudray had 4 rails in hand when she entered the arena and just pulled one with a very solid round.  The California pair won Jersey by an impressive 12.4 points behind their impeccable dressage test.

(2) Phillip jumped a great round on the big jumping Inmidair, and moved up to 2nd when Draco and Rafferty’s Rules both had 2 rails down.  Phillip finished 1st in the CIC3*, second in the CCI3*, and his student Jennie won the CCI2*.  
(3) During Tiana’s victory gallop, Brian played the song “California dreaming.”  Let me just take the chance to say how much I appreciate Brian’s great job as an announcer.  I spend quite a bit of time looking at my computer doing this, and Brian acts like a second pair of eyes, keeping everyone posted on anything and everything that is happening.  
(4) Brian asked everyone to spread the word that the competition went well this weekend in the hopes that we will have more Jersey entries next year.  Without question, the courses had good results and rode safe this year.
(5) Colin Davidson won closest to the optimum time on XC award–he was just 1 second under optimum.  Sharon and Raffferty’s Rules wins best conditioned horse in the CCI3*.
(6) Make sure to check out our Mother’s Day post from this morning–I don’t want it to get lost in out event coverage.  
(7) GO MOMS